1971–72 United States network television schedule

The following is the 1971–72 network television schedule for the three major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1971 through August 1972. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new series, and series cancelled after the 1970–71 season. All times are Eastern and Pacific, with certain exceptions, such as Monday Night Football. This season would be the first time the prime time schedule would be shortened to three hours (with the exception of Sunday and Tuesday), giving the 7:30 p.m. slot back to local stations, as implemented in the Prime Time Access Rule.

New fall series are highlighted in bold.

Each of the 30 highest-rated shows is listed with its rank and rating as determined by Nielsen Media Research.


 * Yellow indicates the programs in the top 10 for the season.
 * Cyan indicates the programs in the top 20 for the season.
 * Magenta indicates the programs in the top 30 for the season.

The Public Broadcasting Service was in operation, but the schedule was set by each local station.

Sunday
Note: 60 Minutes aired at 6:00-7:00 pm on CBS from January to June 1972.

Tuesday
Note: The NBC 1972 summer series Ponderosa consisted of reruns of Bonanza episodes from the 1967-1970 period. More recent reruns of Bonanza also aired that summer under the show's original name in its regular Sunday evening time slot. NBC Action Playhouse consisted of reruns from Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, with new introductions by Peter Marshall.

Wednesday
Note: The ABC 1972 summer series ABC Comedy Hour Presents the Kopykats consisted of reruns of ABC Comedy Hour from earlier in the year.

Thursday
Note: My World and Welcome to It consisted of reruns of NBC's 1969-70 sitcom.

Friday
* formerly First Tuesday

ABC
Returning Series
 * The ABC Monday Night Movie
 * ABC Movie of the Week
 * ABC NFL Monday Night Football
 * The ABC Sunday Night Movie
 * Alias Smith and Jones
 * Bewitched
 * The Brady Bunch
 * The Courtship of Eddie's Father
 * The F.B.I.
 * Love, American Style
 * Marcus Welby, M.D.
 * The Mod Squad
 * Nanny and the Professor
 * The Odd Couple
 * The Partridge Family
 * Room 222
 * The Smith Family

New Series
 * The ABC Comedy Hour *
 * The Corner Bar *
 * Getting Together
 * The Ken Berry 'Wow' Show *
 * Longstreet
 * The Man and the City
 * The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine *
 * Monday Night Special *
 * Movie of the Weekend
 * Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law
 * The Persuaders!
 * Shirley's World
 * The Sixth Sense *
 * The Super *

Not returning from 1970–71:
 * Barefoot in the Park
 * Dan August
 * Danny Thomas in Make Room for Granddaddy
 * The Immortal
 * It Was a Very Good Year
 * The Johnny Cash Show
 * The Lawrence Welk Show (moved to syndication)
 * Let's Make a Deal
 * Matt Lincoln
 * The Most Deadly Game
 * The Newlywed Game (remained on its daytime lineup)
 * The Pearl Bailey Show
 * The Reel Game
 * The Silent Force
 * That Girl
 * This Is Tom Jones
 * The Val Doonican Show
 * The Young Lawyers
 * The Young Rebels

CBS
Returning Series
 * 60 Minutes
 * All in the Family
 * Arnie
 * The Carol Burnett Show
 * CBS Thursday Night Movie
 * The Doris Day Show
 * The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour
 * Gunsmoke
 * Hawaii Five-O
 * Here's Lucy
 * Mannix
 * The Mary Tyler Moore Show
 * Medical Center
 * Mission: Impossible
 * My Three Sons
 * The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
 * Suspense Theatre

New Series
 * Bearcats!
 * Cade's County
 * Cannon
 * The Chicago Teddy Bears
 * The David Steinberg Show *
 * The Don Rickles Show *
 * Funny Face *
 * The Jerry Reed When You're Hot You're Hot Hour *
 * The John Byner Comedy Hour *
 * The Life of Leonardo da Vinci *
 * Me and the Chimp *
 * The New Dick Van Dyke Show
 * O'Hara, U.S. Treasury

Not returning from 1970–71:
 * Animal World
 * The Beverly Hillbillies
 * The CBS Newcomers
 * Comedy Playhouse
 * The Ed Sullivan Show
 * Family Affair
 * The Governor & J.J.
 * Green Acres
 * Headmaster
 * Hee Haw (moved to syndication)
 * Hogan's Heroes
 * The Ice Palace
 * The Interns
 * The Jim Nabors Hour
 * Lassie (moved to syndication)
 * Mayberry R.F.D.
 * The New Andy Griffith Show
 * Storefront Lawyers
 * The Tim Conway Comedy Hour
 * To Rome with Love

NBC
Returning Series
 * Adam-12
 * Bonanza
 * The Bold Ones
 * Columbo
 * The Dean Martin Show
 * The Flip Wilson Show
 * Ironside
 * McCloud
 * Monday Night Baseball
 * NBC Action Playhouse
 * NBC Monday Night at the Movies
 * The NBC Mystery Movie
 * NBC Saturday Night at the Movies
 * Night Gallery
 * Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
 * The Wonderful World of Disney

New Series
 * The D.A.
 * Dean Martin Presents the Bobby Darin Amusement Co. *
 * Emergency! *
 * The Funny Side
 * The Good Life
 * The Jimmy Stewart Show
 * McMillan & Wife
 * Nichols
 * The Partners
 * Sanford and Son *
 * Sarge

Not returning from 1970–71:
 * The Andy Williams Show
 * The Bill Cosby Show
 * Bracken's World
 * The Des O'Connor Show
 * The Don Knotts Show
 * Four in One
 * From a Bird's Eye View
 * The High Chaparral
 * Julia
 * Kraft Music Hall
 * Make Your Own Kind of Music
 * The Men from Shiloh
 * The Name of the Game
 * Nancy
 * NBC Comedy Theater
 * The Psychiatrist
 * The Red Skelton Show
 * San Francisco International Airport
 * Strange Report
 * Wild Kingdom

Note: The * indicates that the program was introduced in midseason.

Additional sources

 * Castleman, H. & Podrazik, W. (1982). Watching TV: Four Decades of American Television. New York: McGraw-Hill. 314 pp.
 * McNeil, Alex. Total Television. Fourth edition. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-024916-8.
 * Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (1985). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows (3rd ed.). New York: Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-31864-1.